France Asks Bolivian Government to Arrest Barbie; Seeks to Determine if He is Actually Klaus Altmann

France asked the Bolivian government today to arrest Klaus Barbie while the Supreme Court in La Paz determines whether the ex-Nazi is indeed the same man who obtained Bolivian citizenship under the name of Klaus Altmann. Such a finding by the court would open the way for Barbie’s extradition to face war crimes charges in France. Bolivia does not extradite its own citizens but Barbie could be deprived of his Bolivian nationality if it turned out that he had obtained it under a false name.

The World War II Gestapo “butcher of Lyons” is wanted for the mass deportation of French Jews and others and for the murder of France’s national hero, Jean Moulin, the first general of the anti-Nazi resistance movement. Mrs. Beate Klarsfeld, an anti-Nazi activist married to a French Jew, flew to La Paz last week to press the authorities to surrender Barbie. She was reportedly in Lima, Peru today where Barbie lived until a French extradition request forced him to flee to Bolivia where he has asked for political asylum.

Mrs. Klarsfeld’s husband, Serge, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today that his wife was encouraged by the positive attitude taken by most of Bolivia’s communications media on the case. While in La Paz she was received by the Bolivian Minister of Interior, Mario Zamora. Klarsfeld denied reports that his wife had been expelled from that country. He said that she was kept under police guard during her visit to the Peruvian Interior Ministry, according to the Lima authorities for her own protection. Mrs. Klarsfeld is scheduled to fly back to Paris tomorrow.